Alexander Marino recently appeared on the Global Investment Voice Podcast to discuss the benefits of renouncing US citizenship on March 14, 2024.
Alexander Marino guested on the Snowbirds US Expats Radio Podcast about the benefits of renouncing your US citizenship on January 17, 2024.
Kenneth Keung and Evan Crocker are quoted in Investment Executive article titled “CRAʼs 10% interest rate on overdue tax raises risks“, published on November 13, 2023.
Kenneth Keung quoted in Investment Executive article titled “Window closing on family business transfers using Bill C-208”, published on October 10, 2023.
Kim G C Moody is quoted in the Tax Notes article titled “Canada’s Supreme Court Upholds GAAR Application in Deans Knight”, May 30, 2023
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Supreme Court of Canada considers residency of a trust in St. Michael Trust Corp.
St. Michael Trust Corp. v. The Queen is the first appeal where the Supreme Court of Canada has considered the test for residency of a trust for tax purposes. The appeal was heard merely four weeks ago. We were surprised when printing out the Court’s judgment that its pages could be bound by a standard staple, which is exceedingly rare for a complex tax appeal. The importance of residency status is that a Canadian-resident taxpayer, including a trust, is taxable in Canada on worldwide income.
The 2012 Federal Budget
On March 29, 2012, The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance released the 2012 Federal Budget. This blog discusses some of the more important tax proposals that will affect our clients and friends. Our blog of February 21, 2012 had some predictions as to what the Federal Budget would contain and certainly some of our predictions have come true as highlighted below.
Treaty shopping explained: Velcro Canada Inc. v. The Queen
The Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) recently lost in Tax Court against a taxpayer that had structured their operations to minimize Canadian tax. The case, Velcro Canada Inc. v. The Queen, (“Velcro Canada”) is the first case since the FCA decision of Prevost Car Inc. v. the Queen (“Prevost Car”), (see our blog on March 18, 2009) that deals with the concept of “beneficial ownership” in a treaty shopping context. The purpose of this blog is to outline how treaty shopping works and how the CRA has tried to assess against this practice.
The upcoming 2012 Canadian Federal Budget
As mentioned in an earlier post, the Federal Budget is usually the place where most tax proposals arise. Accordingly, tax practitioners are keenly interested in the detailed Budget proposals that get released. However, as we have mentioned in earlier posts, there are also many income tax amendments / proposals and comfort letters released by the Department of Finance throughout the year. In addition, there are hundreds of cases released by the Courts every year in Canada that affect the practice of tax. Accordingly, while it has long been the tradition by many of our peers to race to release a Federal Budget summary, our approach at Moodys is purposefully different. We will, of course, release a Budget summary but we instead, strive for thoughtful analysis and the timely release of tax information throughout the year; not just once a year.
Some short answers / rebuttals to common tax myths
The study and practice of tax is tough. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, I believe that tax is one of the most difficult areas of practice in existence.
A mild RRSP season – Except for the advantage rules
RRSPs are an extremely popular investment vehicle for Canadians. With the mild weather, it may be easy to forget it is February and the RRSP deadline is February 29th. (The deadline is usually March 1, but with 2012 being a leap year it will be the last day of February.) This RRSP season, taxpayers and their advisors should be aware of a change in the RRSP rules enacted as a result of the 2011 Federal Budget. These new “advantage rules” target tax avoidance schemes and other structures that most taxpayers would not be involved in, but these rules also set a trap for the unwary. If the advantage rules apply, the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) may impose a penalty tax of 100%. In general terms, this 100% tax is on the amount of the “advantage”, which may be the entire value of the investment.
Alexander Marino recently appeared on the Global Investment Voice Podcast to discuss the benefits of renouncing US citizenship on March 14, 2024.
Alexander Marino guested on the Snowbirds US Expats Radio Podcast about the benefits of renouncing your US citizenship on January 17, 2024.
Kenneth Keung and Evan Crocker are quoted in Investment Executive article titled “CRAʼs 10% interest rate on overdue tax raises risks“, published on November 13, 2023.
Kenneth Keung quoted in Investment Executive article titled “Window closing on family business transfers using Bill C-208”, published on October 10, 2023.
Kim G C Moody is quoted in the Tax Notes article titled “Canada’s Supreme Court Upholds GAAR Application in Deans Knight”, May 30, 2023
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